Two Bahraini organisations - Bahrain Institute of Public Administration and Bahrain Centre of Excellence - have joined hands to help improve the quality of services at various government departments.

The Bipa will support the Bahrain Centre of Excellence (BCE) in achieving total quality management (TQM) in the government sector, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Details of the project were discussed by BIPA director general Dr Raed Ben Shams with BCE director general Shaikh Hussam bin Isa Al Khalifa.

'We aim at the professional development of government employees,' Dr Shams told the GDN.

'The objective is to enhance the quality of services, based on the European Foundation Quality Model (EFQM).'

A detailed project will be ready within three weeks, said Dr Shams.

'A series of training programmes will be organised to upgrade the skills of government employees,' he noted.

'The programmes will include on-the-job training following which the participants will be presented with certificates , which will be equivalent to international accreditation.'

The project is being developed at the directives of Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa who is keen to enhance performance of ministries and government bodies, said Dr Shams.

'We have already conducted specific training on public finance in co-ordination with the Finance Ministry and the Court of Audit,' he revealed.

'Another project was for human resources management development.

'The whole campaign is aimed to ensure that millions of dinars the government spends on training reflects in the services given to the public.'

BIPA also conducted an executive leadership training programme for senior officials.

Under-secretaries and assistant under-secretaries form various ministries attended several workshops.

'BIPA, which has taken the role of a change agent, is helping senior government officials to adopt best management practices, ' said Dr Shams. 'The workshops also enabled them to realise that an effective interaction with the media helps the government to get its message across to the public faster.' - TradeArabia News Service